By: Kurt Hofmann
March 8, 2013

For the last week or so, rumors have been floating around implicating the Missouri Department of Revenue, through its subsidiary Department of Motor Vehicles, in a systematic program of illegally copying Missouri concealed carry license information and, worse, illegally sharing it with other parties, including the federal Department of Homeland Security.

Probably first on the case was the Missouri Family Network, citing confidential informants, breaking not only that news last week, but also warning of the possibility that one’s license (in Missouri, concealed carry licensees have the option of either incorporating their carry license into their driver’s license, or being issued a separate card) would broadcast this ostensibly private information, via an RFID chip in the license card.

Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder on The Dana Show

Since then, the story has gained traction, after Missouri resident Eric Griffin filed suit against the Department of Revenue when he was denied a concealed carry license because he refused to allow the scanning of this information (the issuing authority is the Sheriff’s Department, to whom Griffin had already provided the required information–so the DMV had no legitimate need for the information). The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported Wednesday:

The Revenue Department recently rolled out new drivers’ licenses with enhanced security features that are supposed to curb the risk of identity theft and fraud. Because of the new security features, the licenses are mailed to recipients.

A Stoddard County man filed a lawsuit this week claiming that the new state system for issuing those violates privacy rights because it allows personal and private information to be collected and then disseminated to a private party and the federal government.